Killer fruit and typhoons

Yesterday was another Typhoon...i of course rode my bike in it to get to school...but this time I had a helmet, so my head was protected from flying debris and such. This typhoon was pretty bad, I mean they actually sent the teachers home early....which is amazing, and unheard of. Its pretty funny though, because the reason the teachers were getting sent home was because the neighboring areas (where many of the teachers live) were being evacuated. And the teachers being "typical" Japanese, didn't want to leave work...which I thought was strange, considering their families were in the houses that were being evacuated or flooded (as a couple of cases proved to be). No, they would all rather hang out at school and work, and set out pails everywhere (the school is like a sieve...so not leak-proof). Man when they said go home...I was like C-ya!!! And other than the scary weather...I was so happy to be home early. I even got to chat with a bunch of my friends on line. It was WONDERFUL!!

Switching gears (albeit ungracefully..) a couple of days ago one of my elementary students went into the mountains and hunted and gathered some mountain food, and gave it to me as a present in class. I was totally stoked about it all. I mean there were wild chestnuts (which are super tasty, but covered in prickly thorns...kind of like Thistle) and Akebi. I have never had Akebi before...it is purple-ish red and looks a bit like the prickly pear fruit of the cactus...without the prickles. Anyhow, the teachers explained to me (keep in mind I'm doing my best to translate the japanese to english in my head) that i could eat the Akebi raw. All I need to do is slice it in half and scoop out the seeds. Now here is where the translating got a bit shady...I wasn't sure if I was suppose to eat only the seeds...or if those were bad and I was suppose to throw those out. My feeling when hearing the directions was that the seeds were the only part to eat. So I go home, slice into the Akebi, find a milky substance with black seeds. I took a huge spoonful of it and ate it...It tasted fine...kind of sweet and sugary...so I took another scoop and ate that...Suddenly my throat started to burn...and instantly got kind of raw and scratchy...it was like the worst sensation ever. I didn't know if I had just poisoned myself or if i was having an allergic reaction. And knowing that a japanese doctor visit would be really "fun"...i decided to do what i normally do...Self-medicate!! So I got online and started searching frantically for any and all info on Akebi...Basically, all the info is either in Japanese, or a poor translation of japanese to english...There was no actual mention of the edible-ness of the fruit, just where i could find them in the wild. So I solved the problem by drinking mass quantities of water, hoping to flush it out....

THe next morning I asked my english teacher about this mysterious, possible deadly fruit....she explained to me that the fruit isn't in season now...so its possible i got a fruit that isn't quite ripe. And if the seeds aren't clear...then they are incredibly bitter and not actually edible....

Great...now I have to worry about my students trying to kill me!! okay...i'm only kidding...but YIKES!!!